I mean, the Rockets are in the heart of the playoff hunt and nipping at the heels of the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Dallas is 17-11, Houston is 16-12.

And imagine, he is doing this with a payroll that is in the bottom third of the league. That has to make his boss happy.

When Morey took over as GM in 2007, the Rockets had finished third in the division and fifth in the conference, the same position they are in now.

So he hasn’t exactly run the franchise into the ground, right?

Anyway, it’s not like Morey isn’t trying to improve the team.

I find it hard to believe that so many of you continue to be against the Rockets acquiring Pau Gasol. The four-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA Gasol that is.

Gasol would move the Rockets into a different NBA social class, the upper middle class at least.

(In theory, so would Carmelo Anthony. But let’s not have that debate. The Rockets tried like crazy to get him from Denver last year, but couldn’t pull it off. The Knicks will not keep playing 1.000 ball when Anthony returns to the lineup and the Linsanity will dictate that Anthony gets the blame. But Anthony isn’t going anywhere and for New York to win in the postseason, Anthony will play a major role.)

Back to the Rockets and genuine possibilities …

I understand you really like Luis Scola. So do I. I understand you really believe in Kevin Martin. So does his close family members.

But to be a really good team, you must have premier players. Gasol has been and is that, plus he is a big man, which would make his presence even more significant to the Rockets.

Gasol at the 4 with Dalembert at the 5 would be a huge improvement over what the Rockets can put on the floor right now. David Stern nixed the deal the last time, but if a similar version of the deal comes up, it is a move the Rockets have to make.

The Lakers’ need for a point guard is the chief reason they are willing to part with Gasol, saving a little moolah is secondary on that list.

A hindsight thought is one wonders if LA would have been interested in Goran Dragic, whose family really believes in him too. I don’t think Dragic is anything special, and heck, the Rockets could have just grabbed some guy from Harvard to be a backup point guard.

Suns coach Alvin Gentry told me that Dragic is a heck of a lot better than most know. Perhaps the Lakers are in the know on that one.

Regardless, this is such an interesting NBA season. Don’t get too lost in what happens during the regular season. It’ll likely all shakeout in the playoffs, where, as constituted, a team like the Rockets will have little chance of making any noise.

If you don’t I won’t even go into why. (If you don’t know, you don’t need to know.)

Well, the Rockets got the city out of that with a splendid comeback to beat Phoenix and loudmouth Charles Barkley, then went on to claim back-to-back NBA championships.

It has been a long, painful decade and a half since that last title.

It used to be fun when the Rockets were always in the hunt. Star players like Scottie Pippen and Barkley looked at Houston as a place where a Larry O’Brien Trophy could indeed be won.

Now, however, star players like Chris Bosh and Pau Gasol turn their noses up at Houston. Superstar players like LeBron James, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard make lists of five or six preferred destinations, and Houston isn’t among them.

So what is a smart general manager to do? Load up enough decent players so he can trade a couple of them for a star who doesn’t have enough leverage to just say no to Houston.

It took Daryl Morey quite a while to get this done. But when he finally pulled it off – a tricky move too, as he piggybacked on the Paul-to-the-Lakers deal to get a top-10 (at worst top-15) player in Gasol – David Stern stepped in and nixed the deal.

The Rockets are a Tad (Brown) peeved, ticked off to the highest of tickstivity, and rightly so.

It doesn’t matter that the Hornets managed to get what could be viewed as a better deal to trade Paul to the Clippers. (It’s arguable, but I admit the lottery pick could be a game-changer.) That is a makeup call and rather beside the point.

A trade was agreed to and all but completed when the NBA sideswiped Houston with a ridiculous ruling. Instead of being in the mix with the big boys in the Western Conference, the Rockets are likely to be a .500 team and a fringe contender for a playoff spot.

Chump City.

When the New Jersey Nets and the L.A. Clippers, or now Lob City as Blake Griffin said when he heard Paul was coming, are more desired your team is in bad shape.

All of this because the NBA wants to keep the Hornets attractive for a buyer and to keep them in New Orleans. Why the league is hell-bent on not selling the Hornets to any buyer interested in moving the team makes little sense to me, but so does much of what comes from the NBA office.

The sooner the league sells the franchise and gets out of the ownership business the better, but that won’t make the Rockets feel any better. And it shouldn’t. They got hosed.

For now, the Rockets Red neighborhood of Clutch City remains closed. Any other top-10 players available via trade?